


An Alternative Route

by ThatRandomFail



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Anxiety | Virgil Sanders Needs a Hug, Anxious Anxiety | Virgil Sanders, Black Anxiety | Virgil Sanders, Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders Is A Good Friend, M/M, Meet-Cute, Sympathetic Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-11
Updated: 2021-01-11
Packaged: 2021-03-15 20:28:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,198
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28694709
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThatRandomFail/pseuds/ThatRandomFail
Summary: Virgil has always loved clothes and alternative emo fashion but there was no way he'd ever go out dressed like that. No way! Thankfully, a dashing alternative dressing Remus takes matters into his own hands.hteragram-x on Tumblr outlined this concept and I just fell in love!"AU with Dukexiety where Virgil is the most boring looking, plain person you can imagine, because he’s too afraid of being judged for weird choices in style and he prefers to stay in clothes that make him blend into the crowd..."
Relationships: Anxiety | Virgil Sanders/Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders
Comments: 4
Kudos: 58





	An Alternative Route

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! This is literally a really tiny drabble I made because that was such a cool idea! It's not really that developed or anything but just inspiration struck. I think it'll become very obvious that I'm not that into fashion so please be forgiving in any awkwardness. I'm not black so please correct me if I misrepresented anything, I want to make something enjoyable for everyone!   
> Feedback and comments literally make my life!
> 
> Here's the post that outlined this idea:  
> https://hteragram-x.tumblr.com/post/637789591932436480

“Virge! I wasn’t expecting you to actually make it! How are you?” Roman cheered and immediately launched into a dramatic hug, Virgil merely chuckled and patted his back awkwardly. He felt his stress ebb away once he saw that the inside was fairly quiet and chilled out. Roman’s ‘get togethers’ were always either a frantic crowded loud party or just a couple of friends sitting watching Netflix. There was no in-between. And that’s why it was pretty hit or miss whether he ever actually showed up. 

“Not bad, you?”

“Oh feeling good! As incredible as I was, I have got to say that I’m relieved it’s all done! God, it feels like years since I had the time to actually stop and breathe. Come in, feel free to food and drinks. Pat and Lo got here stupidly early and I think Janus might stop by… Oh you haven’t met my brother have you?” Roman rambled happily while shoving a bowl of pretzels into his hands with a coke. Virgil simply let himself by whisked away by him while waving to Logan and Patton; he knew better now to just let Roman ramble than to stop him. As Roman looked around, presumably to introduce him to his brother, the toilet door banged open and a wolf whistle sounded. 

Out emerged Roman’s twin brother Remus and Virgil felt his face start to burn. 

“Finally,” Logan mumbled and dived for the bathroom. 

“My beauty greatly outweighs your bladder being too small actually!” Remus knocked against the door with a snort and waltzed his way back into the living room. Virgil ducked his head down, probably in the most obvious gay panic way possible. 

God beauty really did describe it. 

Him and Roman were twins and that was obvious, obviously. Identical faces, around the exact same height (maybe an inch or two more than Roman) and the exact same sense of drama. But only this felt like Roman as if he was way more rebellious and punk. The same curly brown hair were crazily fluffed up with a streak of grey. A nose piercing along with some snake bites. The peak of a tattoo across his hand. 

Remus was also dressed as the pinnacle of alternative fashion. To make it even more unfair! His jeans were shredded to pieces, with a flap flinging around from his knee, with some band’s short sleeve t-shirt. The leather jacket thrown across the floor was probably his too. It was barely visible underneath all the badges and pins- pride pins (he couldn’t be Roman’s brother without screaming LGBT rights) and various poorly sewn patches. A worrying amount Virgil recognised. That alone sounded kinda plain. But Remus also wore huge gauges with a keyring of a teddy with its arm and leg ripped off hanging from the gauge. There was a thick black buckled collar round his neck with a black heart tag that proudly stated ‘BRAT’. God, everything about him screamed confidence and teenage rebellion (despite all of them now leaving the bracket of teenager). 

“Hey Virgil. You alright?” Patton asked before putting his hand to his forehead before he could respond. He batted away the hand and nervously stuttered out some words. Hopefully they were good words that meant Virgil was now free to continue ogling his best friend’s brother. 

God even his makeup looked amazing! Virgil squinted as he tried to figure out how he could’ve done such an amazing job! He tried makeup once. Once was enough, it wasn’t his fault that makeup youtubers made it seem so easy! Dramatic thick eyeliner that looked like a computer did it with how straight it was. Thick purple eyeshadow with an explosion of green glitter that artfully clashed and defined the eyeshadow. 

Patton guided him back down and Virgil let himself get drowned out in the conversation. He only barely caught that everyone was congratulating Roman on his latest performance and stammered through a quick ‘good job’. Maybe he could play this all off as being anxious about meeting someone new. 

Oh God! Roman made eye contact with him with a gleeful smirk. Like a younger child who has just found out the very best blackmail material on their older sibling. How the fuck was he going to explain any of this! He never gay panics! That was something Roman did every time a coffee shop cashier gave him the correct order! He was Virgil! Virgil doesn’t gay panic!

Roman, as much fun as he was having now he realised that Virgil was crushing badly, he decided to finally take pity. He couldn’t make fun of him if Virgil ended up dying here from violently blushing. Clearly, Virgil was still busy looking up Remus for him to notice him sitting next to him and bumping their shoulders. “You know, Remus may dress and try to be a nightmare but the second you compliment him then he will be putty in your hand,” Roman smiled and took a deliberate casual sip of his drink. Remus desperately needed a boyfriend and this was the first time ever Virgil crushed on someone. Two birds one stone!

“Wha?” Virgil mumbled and looked away. Roman smirked wider and shook his head.

“Just talk to him.” Virgil sat there while his brain tried to load any kind of retort. Maybe something along the lines that Roman should mind his business and that he definitely didn’t have a crush. But that loading was completely overthrown when a hand was thrusted in his face.

“Hey, I’m Remus! But you can call me daddy!” Remus cackled, standing over Virgil. A waft of some cologne drifted in his face. His hand was still held out for a handshake.

“Uh oh! Um I’m uh yeah I’m Virgil,”Virgil stumbled, quick say something cool, “Or you can call me Virge…” Virgil managed to somehow hide his own horrified grimace and clasped Remus’ hand with his own clammy one. Roman was now cackling as he leaned backwards. Everyone was now looking at them. Oh sweet lord…

“Heya Virge! Mind if I sit here?” Remus didn’t falter and slammed himself down next to him, “Janus has already given me the gossip with you and it’s about time I finally talked to the only other person in this group who actually knows MCR!” 

The night continued worryingly smoothly compared to the shit show of a start. Without even looking at Remus’ patches and pins (although they did spend a good hour going through them all one by one), it was clear they had a lot in common. It took a bit, but after Remus presented him the shittest opinion of his favourite song, Virgil opened up and became just as animated and loud as Remus himself. An achievement that had even Logan looking over at them with amazement. 

“I told you that you should’ve introduced them sooner…” Logan mumbled passive aggressively as he took another sip.

“It’s Remus!” Roman groaned and threw his hands up, “I didn’t really want him in my friend group!”

“Now that’s not very nice…” Patton wrinkled his nose with a look of disappointment that pierced through Roman.

“I dunno! I get that it’s childish but Remus can just be too much sometimes. Maybe I just want to have something for myself without having to share with my twin brother!” Roman stared at them but despite what he was saying, his chest did glow at seeing Virgil laugh so freely. Hell even Remus had brightened up, finally being free to talk about whatever weird interest he had at the moment. It was nice to see both of them having genuine fun. He hoped Virgil would take his advice and at least try to flirt. Despite his childish opinions, he really did want Remus to find someone (as did Remus for Roman) and seeing Virgil blue screen clearly raised a good opportunity.

“So how come you dressed so boringly then! You like all these bands and general emo-ness. How come you’re not dressed all in black with some dramatic black eyeshadow,” Remus lightly punched Virgil’s arm with a light smile but he deflated when Virgil looked away. Not that Remus thought he was dressed badly. But there wasn’t much you could say about black skinny jeans and a huge baggy grey jumper. It was a shame, Virgil really was attractive! Why the boring wardrobe if he was an emo too!

“I uh… I don’t know. I guess I’m just too awkward.”

“Awkward?”

“Yeah,” Virgil then looked at him like he was the weird one, “Like to dress all… like that draws attention to yourself. I just want to get by life drawing as little attention as possible. Plus, doesn’t that look kinda… um suit white people more?”

“What? Who told you that!” Remus growled. 

“Well… you just never see it do you! You could google gothic or like alternative looks and it’s always a white girl! I dunno! I know it’s stupid! Bu-”

“Hey! You’re not some stock image. They’re just clothes. No clothes are ‘better’ more more races than others! No race looks any better suited for anything else! I’ll give you that sometimes these looks can get some attention. That’s a genuine point. But most of the time it’s mothers who look shocked that the colour black exists and the other time it’s people like you who want to dress like that as well!” Remus looked down, clearly buried under his barrage of thoughts, “You don’t really see many black alternative looks. And so I get that that would draw attention to you too… I don’t know really what to say. If you enjoy it, especially if you’re going so far to make your own clothes and learned how to sew, then you should be able to wear whatever you want and feel good! Maybe you could just wear them just at home? Hmm…” Remus shrugged but clearly felt awkward for not being able to help. Virgil shook off the conversation. His anxiety did not need this right now. 

“So uh… what are you studying?” Virgil distracted and tried to keep that conversation out of his head. 

They swapped numbers at the end of the night and kept on chatting. Just like that night, it took a while before Virgil was invested and would send barrages of texts and memes at 4am. 

It took a full two weeks before Virgil sent over a picture. There was no previous conversation. Remus had just been sitting in the library trying to focus on work before his phone beeped with the message. 

It was a selfie of Virgil awkwardly smiling while holding up his latest project. It looked like the zip up plain grey hoodie he wore to the party but only now it had been dyed black, zips along the sleeves and massive chunks missing, replaced with a purple checkered cloth. On the table there was thick lines of string. 

Another message was sent after: “Going for a gothic Sally from Nightmare Before Christmas!” and Remus couldn’t respond faster. He quickly key smashed before browsing his plethora of reactions images. But his stomach still sank at the idea that that amazing home-made jumper will now sit in a wardrobe forever. That sucked! Virgil should be able to wear whatever he so wanted without any second thoughts. 

It wasn’t often they met up as both of them were definitely homebodies with a severe allergy to real life. So when they did, they both agreed to never make an effort and just grab coffee in their pjs. At least Virgil looked somewhat normal in tracksuit bottoms and a baggy jumper. He was always careful not to wear all black so to avoid looking too emo. Remus looked suitably awful in his mario pjs with various stains along with his flawless gothic dramatic makeup. 

One particular day Remus asked if afterwards he could quickly grab some more eyeliner and that led to Virgil admitting that he wanted to do makeup (and some awful attempt at flirting as he complimented Remus’ makeup). And Remus did not take that lightly. “Well this is the brand I first started with but they’re dog shit. You’re best of with this lot. Cheap but effective. Drugstores don’t really have much choice in terms of colour so you’re better off buying online. Don’t trust Amazon makeup. Eyeshadow palettes are the most fun part of makeup! You deal with all the other shit just to wear pretty colours on your eyes! Top tip, never fucking use those stupid pad brush things they put in there. I’ll give you some of my older brushes,” Remus happily rambled and linked their elbows to drag him to the eyeshadow palettes.

“Whoa! I suck at makeup! I’m not actually going to buy any!”

“You did it once. Trust me, this is years of work in the making. Plus, how long did you spend on it?” Remus turned and stopped them. His hands were on his hips with a dramatic look. Virgil felt himself blush as he looked up at Remus’ lean figure. He was actually dressed with effort today. He went extra with his makeup with little artistic knives drawn on his cheeks. 

“Uh… I dunno? I didn’t time myself?” Virgil awkwardly huffed.

“Good makeup can take up to like half an hour to put on. You need to give yourself the time to experiment and wipe it off if it doesn’t work. C’mon, if you’re free tomorrow then I can help teach you?” Remus went to a more jokey serious and Virgil found himself agreeing without further thought. Remus even embarrassed him further by buying his first lot of makeup for him. 

“A gift!” Remus shrugged it off as he nearly knocked him to the floor to reach the cashier first. 

They practised every time they went round each others. Remus demanded every time that Virgil would do his makeup as it was easier to see what you were doing before doing it on yourself. The first time it happened Virgil nearly fainted at the sight of makeup-less Remus. 

It was a couple of weeks later that Remus got another message that stopped him in his tracks:

Felt like it went alright? Actually going out like this!

It was with a picture of Virgil with some passable gothic makeup. Eyeliner defining his eyes and the tiniest shade of purple on his eyelids. Virgil’s own distinct style of smudged under eye makeup was the most striking part. His eyes looked amazing. Remus felt his heart physically skip a beat. 

You look breath taking. Do you mind if I use this as my lockscreen?

And now it was Virgil’s turn to absolutely burst into flames.

Despite going out in dramatic makeup, Virgil still adamantly refused to go the whole hog and wear a full outfit. Remus really wanted to push him into but he also knew from experience that being pushed was the best way to end their friendship. Yet that didn’t stop him from scribbling down some ideas that could help him. But little did he know that it was when there was no plan that helped him the most.

He had just been complaining. Nothing serious. He never expected for Virgil to put his foot down:

Ugh, I hate when I really want to wear a specific outfit but then I find a top that’s just creased to shit!

_How does it get creased! It was just sitting in your wardrobe right?_

…uh sure!

_Reem?_

Okay! I never hang anything up!

_REEM!_

Whatever! I’ve confessed my sins, you can’t judge!

_I don’t even know why I’m surprised. The state of your room should’ve been a clue._

Organising isn’t a key skill of mine.

_No, organising isn’t your problem. Your problem is that your a messy bitch! That’s it._

_You’re free today right? I’m coming over in like an hour and helping you. You shouldn’t have to live like this._

Whoa! Wait really? You’d do that for me?!?!?!?!!!

_Being honest, I think I just want to procrastinate. Cleaning just helps clear my mind._

Fair enough!

Virgil came over quickly after and what was supposed to be a quick cleaning effort turned into a fashion show. Virgil took one look at his platform boots covered in spikes and demanded he see. 

It turned into seeing what fitted Remus and what didn’t. And he casually screamed that anything that didn’t fit would absolutely fit Virgil and that he should take it home. 

“Hey,” Virgil murmured, Remus turned when nothing else followed, “Would you mind if I tried some of this on before… it’s fine if not, I just wanted to as-”

“Oh my god! Yes! Absolutely! Go, go, go!” Remus shoved him into his toilet with a wild grin. His stomach flipping at just the thought.

Virgil emerged with some tight leather jeans and a shredded purple top. A black jean jacket covered with emo anti-capitalist patches with spiked shoulders. He wasn’t wearing make-up but yet Remus didn’t think a single thing was needed for the look. Virgil was standing there, embarrassedly flinging his arms up and awkwardly spinning slowly. It took an embarrassingly amount of time for Remus to find English again.

“You look incredible.” Virgil huffed and turned away.

“I think it would look better if I dyed my hair purple,” Remus’ eyes bulged out of his skull, “Yeah, I’ve kinda wanted to do that for years now. Always just presumed that was just a teenage phase but now that’s all I can think about. Heh, whatever!”

Their trust was something built up over time. Virgil exploring his style was something that took time. Just seeing Remus as a Hispanic dude in alternative fashion wasn’t going to make him feel confident enough.

Roman was throwing another party to celebrate another role in some play. Remus and Virgil were both invited and decided to show up together. There wasn’t many of them. Even better. Virgil bit his lip in excitement as Remus walked in first. If they did this the second he started wearing his alternative outfits, then Virgil would be in tears at embarrassment. But now he just felt finally proud of how he looked. He felt his chest glow again at just how patient him and Remus had both been about this. Finding the confidence for his style was still taking time but this was a big moment. Walking in was still a treasured moment. Logan and Patton’s expressions were worth all the months of failing at makeup and the outfits that sat crammed at the back of the wardrobe.

He was wearing the hoody he made but only he fully committed to the gothic Sally look. His foundation had a green tinge and he drew lines and shaded different patches of skin. He even wore a contact to make his eyes bright swirling purple and a neon green. His jeans were shredded along with Remus’ old purple top. He wore a simple choker and he even dyed the ends of his hair an electric purple. Remus was wearing a pair of grey joggers and a black tank top (”we have to show you off”). 

And Virgil never felt happier.


End file.
